HISD's giant bus barn gets back to work

Two-hundred bus drivers will cover 10,000 miles today

Published 5:30 am, Monday, August 24, 2009

The whole scene had a military feel. School buses by the score idled in lines, their big engines rumbling, their lights flashing yellow and red. Drivers, as antsy as any bomber crew readying for takeoff, darted between their “war horses,” kicking tires, adjusting mirrors, making sure, as much as humanly possible, that nothing would go wrong.

What was happening at 5 a.m. Monday at the Houston Independent School District's northwest transportation center, of course, had nothing to do with real warfare. But the analogy still was apt. Monday was back-to-school day for roughly 200,000 district students — about a quarter of them bus riders — and this was where the rubber met the road.

“We tell our drivers that these students are their children,” said northwest terminal manager Chester Glaude. “You want the best for your children. Safety comes first, then care and concern.”

Glaude's transportation center — one of four in HISD — covers the heart of the city, operating 225 buses on 205 routes. In a typical day's time, Glaude's 219 drivers travel more than 10,000 miles.

On Monday, the first of Glaude's buses left the transportation center on Pinemont at 4:30 a.m. Half an hour later, the center's cafeteria was filling with bleary-eyed drivers. Behind steaming cups of stout coffee, they perused folders stuffed with vital information regarding their routes.

Drivers typically transport students to as many as four schools. They are expected to reach each stop at a stipulated time, give or take a mere three minutes.

“Students don't like to be left standing out in the weather,” said veteran driver Jackie Horn.

To command a school bus, drivers must be as adept in psychology as motoring, Glaude said. Students unchecked by the authority of the schoolhouse can turn a bus into a rolling zoo.

“Kids act out because they're kids,” said Glaude, who began his HISD career driving a bus 22 years ago. “We as drivers recognize that. ... I tell my drivers to be courteous and respectful but to always remember: You are the adult in that bus.”

When rowdiness reaches a level that endangers safety, “that's when you radio the school and pull the bus off the street.”

“I don't have those problems,” said 20-year bus veteran Mercie Batchie. “I have nice kids because I don't play. I lay down the rules.”

Batchie's rules include no eating, no drinking and no lying down on the seats.

But a driver's concerns just begin with the passengers. The full roster of potential headaches is spelled out in “The War Wagon,” an essay prominently posted in the cafeteria, not far from an oversized video screen displaying real-time traffic conditions.

“The war wagon must avoid every obstacle from the largest mobile warehouse to the smallest of compacts that are lost in the rear-view mirror,” it reads. “This monster must be herded around the tightest of corners, the steepest of hills, wet or dry, because the cargo must get there. ... This person (the driver) must pray for victory every morning.”

HISD drivers get annual training — a defensive driving course and 20-hours of behind-the-wheel instruction — but life on the roads still can be daunting.

“Some people will yield for a bus,” Horn said, “and some just want to get out in front.”

“Common sense isn't as common as you might think,” Glaude said. “People think that a big yellow bus is easy to stop. Some are 36 feet long. It takes at least 20 feet to stop them.”

HISD reported that four buses were involved in minor accidents on the first morning of the new school year. Three sustained “parking lot bumps;” a fourth was rear-ended. There were no injuries.

Despite its rigors, bus driving — with benefits and a starting salary of $14.34 an hour — is appealing to many, especially in financially troubled times. And a cross-section of the community sits behind the wheel of HISD buses. Glaude's oldest driver is 77; the youngest, 21.

But the district, he said, is highly selective.

“We have three supervisors who work in screening,” he said. “They do a good job of checking out the applicants. “You've got to have the heart for this position. These are children. It's not just a job.”